Roof and wall construction



June-12, 1923.

1,458,498 P. M. PIEL ROOF AND WALL CONSTRUCTION Filed July 2, 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June12, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT N .corsica PAULM. PIEL. or LAKE PARLIN, MAINE@ f i Roer `nun WALL CONSTRUCTION.

Application 'filled July a,

To all whom it may concern.' l

Be it knownthat I, PAUL M. PIEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lake Parlin, Jackman, Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Roof and fall Constructions, of which the following is a. specification.

This invention consists in means for reinforcing building walls, in the generic One special object of the inventionislto.

thus resolve these forces when acting in the plane of aslanting rroof soA that,k in the absence of such stiffening` means,y they would develop an outward lateral thrust onthe cave-supporting upright walls. 'as explained for instance in the prior patentsVilbur, No.' S295 of 1851, andStoufl'eigNo. 571,- 055 of 1896. According to the present invention, the lateral thrust on the cave-sup# portingkwalls is eliminated, and all forces acting on the roof are resolved into .vertical components vertically acting on the eave-supporting walls or posts and `the gable-supporting walls or posts, so that large slanting roofs may ybe rigidly mounted without recourse to the usual intermediate ridge-supportimg,` poles or eaveftoeave cross-ties, which so commonly'obstruct the space under such roofs. y n 1 In the accompanying drawings which show several adaptations of my invention:

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the invention applied to the slanting roof and the side wall of a building;

Figure 2 is a diagram showing thevinvention applied to a roof with slanting gable ends;

Figure 3 is a diagram of the invention applied to an extraordinarily long roof;

Figure 4 is a diagram of a modification of the adaptation of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a skeleton plan of a roof or wall supplied with the invention; and

Figure 6 is a diagram of one method of connecting the tie-member of the invention to a roof rafter.

In the arrangement of Figure 1` each roof slope is provided with a iiexible tie- 1919. serial no. 303,264.

.member 7, such as acable for instance, "connected to the gables,` and extending from gab-le'to gable in a depending loop, and interine'diately connected with each rafter, or with certainrafters at certainjintervals, so as to approximate a curve, `tor instance a catenary or parabola ywhen the, cable receives 'equal thrusts from rafters at equal intervals. rThe rafter'tln'usts are thus re-y solved into tension in the cables or tie-mem'- bers, which tensions are in turn resolved into a longitudinal compression 'of the ridgefpole 11, and vertical compression upon the gable-supporting walls which may beresis'ted b v' any convenient means such as a trusslform'edby the gable beams and a f Vcross-tie 8. Or gable-supporting posts may be employed. Thus the. ridge-pole constil tutes an upper compression member common to the trusses of the two roofl slopes.

As will be noted the loady component vof each Aroof slope exerted' rat the ridge-pole normal tothe plane of its own resisting truss, is supported by `thetruss resistance of the complementary roof slope, so asto produce a 'complete balance of all `or'ces which might develop outward horizontal thrust upon the.eave-supporting walls.

y The same scheme may be applied to the side walls of the building, for instance by employing` a tie-member 9 connected to the wall studding and forming` a catenary-lilre or parabolwlike yloop suspended-from thel ends ,ofthev eave bea-1n acting as a compres sionmember;V This will be of use ywhen it is necessary or desirable to carryy the entire weight ofthe side wall on'they corner` posts, for `instance when no suitable foundati'on can beerecte/d between them.

The cable ties and 9 may bey secured to the inner sides of the roof rafters and wall studding. 'y y In Figure 2, the tension members 7 of the roof trusses are connected to the ends oi. the ridge-pole l1, acting as a common compression member. In this instance there are slanting end-gable-roofs 12 whose ridgepoles 13 and eave-beams la constitute end trusses to carry the end weight of ridge-pole 11 upon the corner posts of the buildinv. while the longer eave-beams 15 act as tiemembers between these end trusses.

In the long roof of Figure 3. each roof slope has at least two cable ties 16 extending fromthe middle of the ridge-pole 11 to its opposite ends. In this instance the middle of the ridge-pole will be supported either l by a post 17, or an eave-to-eave cross-tie, or

an extra cable tie 18 disposed in each roof slope and anchored to the ridge-pole at the middle points in the span of its primary catenary ties 16.

In the arrangement of Figurefi, the trussI ties are straight tension members 19, 20 and 2l, bearing their loads only at their middle points, in which instance, extra strong rafters 22, 23, and uprights 24, maybe employed as special compression members in the respective trusses. p

Figure shows a skeleton plan of a roof slope, or a Vertical wall, with its cable tie 2T anchored by bolts to the ends y of the ridge-pole or beam 26, and connected to the individual rafters or uprights 2S by sho-rtv Suspenders 29. In this instance the cable tie is assumed to consist in a chain, and the Suspenders are short chains bolted to the rafter or uprights and hooked into the nearest or most convenient chain links so that the suspenders will pull on the rafters or uprights approximatelyin count-er line to their thrust against the cave-beam or sill-beam 30.

Figure 6 shows a detail elevation section of such Ya -suspender connectionr for a root truss, for instance as it would appear in the plane 66 of Figure 5. This suspender 2v is a short chain secured to the rafter 28 by a bolt A passing through the anchor link 32, and secured to the tie chain 27 by a hook 3l connected to the link B thereof. It will be noted that the pull of this suspender from B toward A, is resolved into a main component B-C which constitutes the rafter thrust borne by the suspender and catenary, and a lesser component B-D normal to the roor plane and serving .to hold the chain snugly against the rafters.

Since I have not essayed lto illustrate and y describe all adaptations of my generic inventive idea, itl must be understood that various other adaptations thereof may be devised, many by the exercise of technical skill. and Aothers by supplemental invention, but all within the spirit and basic principles of the invention and the scope and intent of the following; claims. In these claims the word wall will generically designate not only upright walls usually so designated, but also sloping walls such asV employed for overhead covering or roofs.

I claim: p

1. In a roof the combination with a ridge pole and an eave structure, of a tension member attached to the ridge pole, and a plurality of rafters across which the tension member extends and to which it is connected so that it is furthest from the ridge pole midway of its length, with the'result that the tensionr member draws said rafters against the ridge pole.

2, In a roof'the combination with a'ridge pole andan eave structure, of a continuous tension member attached' to the ridge pole adjacent the ends of the ridpge pole, anda plurality of rafters across which the tension member extends and to which it is connected so that it is further away from the ridge pole at intermediate rafters than at end ones with the result that the tension memberdraws said rafters against the ridge pole.

3. In a roof the combination with a ridge pole and a pair of cave structures, of a plurality of rafters from the pole to each eave structure, a tension'member attached to the rafters vthan at end ones with the result that the' tension member draws said rafters against theridge pole.

4.' In a roof the combination with Va ridge pole and a pair of cave structures, of a plurality of rafters from the pole to each'eave structure, a continuous tension member for each set of rafters attached to the ridge pole near its end across which the tension member extends and to which it is connected so that itis further away from the ridgepole at intermediate rafters than at end ones with the result that the! tension member draws said rafters against'the ridge pole.

In testimonywhereof, I have affixed my signature to this specification.

I PAUL M. PIEL; 

